"People are very passionate about their pets," said Councilwoman Pat Kernighan, whose district surrounds the site on three sides. "If you'd really like to have a dog park, it's real to you ... it's very personal."

The Lakeview Dog Park, as proponents call it, would be 21,000 square feet. It would be enclosed by a 4-foot fence and divided, with separate areas for large and small dogs.

But the spot is also at one of the city's defining crossroads, positioned near a series of major thoroughfares and between the Grand Lake Theatre and Lake Merritt. For some, that means the park's woodchips and cacophony of barking make an unappealing first impression.

"It's like putting the dog park in your front yard, not your backyard," said Kernighan.

Others see something different.

"The lake is the center of Oakland," said Pam Drake, director of the Lakeshore Business Improvement District, which supports the dog park. "It's where people want to experience Oakland."

"This park is not for dogs," added Drake, 66, who owns a cat. "It's another aspect of the diversity of Oakland. It's for people who see pets as part of their families and they want to socialize with their dogs and their friends."

What no one disputes is that Oakland needs more places for pooches to run wild. Oakland's municipal code bans dogs in parks - whether they're on leash or not. There are five parks that have exceptions and allow off-leash dogs. San Francisco, which is smaller in land mass but nearly double the population, has 21 dog parks.

Emily Rosenberg has lived in Oakland since 1969 and has had dogs since 1981. A hill of open space was a rare and welcome spot for dog walking. Then it got covered by 300 new homes.

"I've seen dog ownership increase and access to public space decrease," said Rosenberg, who lives in the Montclair district and co-founded the Oakland Dog Owners Group, which is pushing for the park.

Rosenberg, who said she owns "two mutts," says the city's delays in addressing this dog park have fueled opposition.

"The neighborhood now is organized to fight this location," she said.

Sue Levin, a dog owner who has helped lead the opposition, believes the shortage of dog parks doesn't justify placing it in what she views as a bad location for a dog park.

The city needs to develop guidelines for creating dog parks, said Levin, something the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission is undertaking.

"Otherwise," she said, "you end up in the sort of contentious pitchfork battle we're in now."